


Justine's Monster

by chthonicfantasyyy



Category: Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
Genre: Class Issues, Execution, Gen, Murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:28:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21682996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chthonicfantasyyy/pseuds/chthonicfantasyyy
Summary: This was a school project and it's sitting in my Google Docs, so, like, eat up I guess.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Justine's Monster

Elizabeth welcomes me with open arms, but my smile is pinched and tight. For a second, I wonder if she’s forgotten what happened, my letters and why I’m here, but, on seeing my expression, she course corrects and offers her condolences.

I try very hard not to roll my eyes and get kicked off her doorstep. Her condolences mean absolutely nothing to me, not when the help she’s giving me is so lukewarm. I’m happy to have a place to stay, of course, but having to work for it? Not so much.

So much for being equals. An upper-class girl like Elizabeth had all the time in the world to wear black and spend her days sobbing, but people like me have to start scrubbing the floors tomorrow morning at six on the dot.

Nothing’s really changed from when I used to live here a child. Everything’s just gotten more...pronounced. There was always a wall between me and Elizabeth, even if she was constantly trying to reach out. It’s like she didn’t get it. She was the darling of the Frankenstein household, a cute little doll who got whatever she wanted.

Meanwhile girls like me are a dime a dozen in Switzerland. A sob story with no connections and no money.

Even with all my complaining, I still have to acknowledge that Elizabeth is the best out of all of them. Alphonse gave me his condolences but hasn’t looked me in the eye since, not that he was a particularly sociable person, Caroline couldn’t come up with any other discussion topics besides my mother’s death, Victor never really talked to anyone any more, just holed up in his room (Although his friend Henry was kind enough to say hi on his way up), and William?

William was a little brat.

We all knew how awkward the situation was, but William didn’t have enough tact to drop it. Or maybe he did and just chose to constantly pick at the scab while everyone else ignored it, only once in a while chiming in to scold him. Not too hard of course, it wasn’t like they really disagreed with him after all.

Even worse, since I had some education, I was informally appointed to be William’s governess. A true joy. There was nothing quite like being forced to follow him around, especially when neither of us could stand each other. So we’d come to a sort of agreement. He’d sort of do whatever he wanted and I’d be in the general approximate vicinity somewhere and neither of us would say a word to the other Frankensteins, not that that stopped him from hinting at it a couple of times over dinner.

I really want to...well, no. It’s not like I want to kill William, cause him or the Frankensteins any serious harm. I mean, I’d like them to learn that not every day is as perfect and carefree for everyone as it is for them, but it’s not like I could ever teach them that lesson.

Or at least, that’s what I thought until he showed up.

I never really learned his name.

I remember it being an otherwise normal day, if a little bit more rough than usual. William had an outburst in the middle of the market, so I sent him to go blow off some steam in the woods. I could see him from the embankment, but I turned away for a second. I heard William talking to someone, heard him say Victor’s name, and when I turned back it was happening.

William was being strangled.

I...could have stopped this, or tried anyway. He was pretty big, after all. But instead I just watched. Somewhere along the way, our eyes met, mine and his. His face wasn’t...Well, I could still tell what he was feeling, like the time I broke one of the fancy dinner glasses just before Alphonse came into the room, that moment between realizing you made a mistake and starting to make an excuse.

He opened his mouth, but I didn’t give him the chance. I nodded, then went back to the barn, pretended to take a nap so I would have an alibi. A little while later, he came in, slipped something into my pocket. Of course I looked at it the moment he left.

It was William’s locket, the one he had of Caroline. You’re sure he meant it as a nice gesture, something to remember William by, but that’s not going to hold up in court, especially not with the whole town having seen the two of us fighting this morning.

I sigh and slip it back in my pocket before going back to sleep.

Surprisingly, Victor actually tries to stick up for me. Sort of. He crumbles when anyone asks for details, like he doesn’t want to say anything, but it’s obvious he knows something.

Well, at least now I know what he was always doing in his room.


End file.
